Insider Selling: Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) VP Sells 300 Shares of Stock

Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 300 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.61, for a total value of $21,183.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,614,356.43. The trade was a 1.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of EW stock opened at $68.26 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.67. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52-week low of $58.93 and a 52-week high of $95.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.13 billion, a PE ratio of 9.79, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. On average, analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at $610,895,000. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at about $555,939,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,117,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537,494 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $314,182,000 after purchasing an additional 3,506,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $213,844,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EW. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Company Profile

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring in the United States, Europe, Japan, and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve replacement products for the minimally invasive replacement of aortic heart valves under the Edwards SAPIEN family of valves system; and transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement products to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases under the PASCAL PRECISION and Cardioband names.